Unchained Melody: The Early Years
Unchained Melody: The Early Years or simply The Early Years , and sometimes refered to as Unchained Melody, is a compilation album by American country singer LeAnn Rimes, released in the United States on February 11, 1997 by Curb Records. Due to high sales of her debut album, Blue, the album consists of tracks recorded previously to Blue, ''tracks one, two and five through nine were taken from Rimes' independent album, under Nor Va Jak label, ''All That (1994). "Unchained Melody" (originally by The Righteous Brothers) was released on a single as a B-side track with "Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart" at Target stores during the 1996 Christmas season alongside Rimes' debut album. The album contains cover versions of "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" by Patsy Montana, "Blue Moon of Kentucky" by Bill Monroe, "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton, "Yesterday" by The Beatles. The album has been certified 2× Platinum for shipments of two million copies in the United States. Background Due to high sales of Rimes' debut album, Blue,CMT Inside Fame: LeAnn Rimes CMT (2004-4-12) Retrieved 2011-10-8 Curb Records used several tracks recorded from Rimes' commercial album, All That, all of which were recorded when Rimes was eleven years old. The only songs not recorded prior to Blue is Rimes' cover of Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and the song "River of Love". "Unchained Melody" was originally released on a single as a B-side track with "Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart" at Target stores during the 1996 Christmas season alongside Rimes' debut album, and as a B-side track to "One Way Ticket (Because I Can)". The compilation album was released on February 11, 1997 by Curb Records. Critical reception Jose F. Promis of Allmusic gave the album two and a half out of five stars stating that it's "a tad bizarre" due to the album consisting of recordings released prior to Blue, that were recorded when Rimes was eleven years old, as a follow up to her debut album. Track listing Personnel Credits for Unchained Melody: The Early Years were adapted from liner notes of All That. Additional credits adapted from liner notes of the album. *Bob Smith — bass *Brad Billingsley — drums *Chuck Rippey — fiddle *Crista Carnes — background vocals *Curtis Randall — bass *Fred Gleber — drums *Gary Beevers — dobro, steel guitar *Gary Leach — assistant mixing, assistant recording *Glenn Meadows — mastering *Greg Hunt — mixing, recording *Greg Walker — assistant producer, assistant mixing, assistant recording *Jerry Matheny — electric guitar *Jimmy Kelly — keyboards *Johnny Mulhair — acoustic guitar, co-producer, electric guitar, engineer, lead guitar, mandolin, mixing, recording, steel guitar *Joy Mckay — background vocals *Kayla Powell — background vocals *Kelly Glenn — keyboards *Lisa Criss — background vocals *Mike Mclain — keyboards, recording *Milo Deering — steel guitar *Paul Goad — bass, keyboards, piano *Perry Coleman — background vocals *Ray Carl — harmonica *Whitney Mulhair — flute *Wilbur C. Rimes — producer, mixing Charts Unchained Melody: The Early Years debuted at number one on Billboard 200 with 166,000 copies sold in the week ending of March 1, 1997, it dropped to number two in its second week with 133,500 copies sold. Peak Positions Year End-Chart Alternate covers LeAnn Rimes - Unchained Melody- The Early Years (Alternate Cover).jpg|Alternate cover LeAnn Rimes - Unchained Melody- The Early Years (Japanese).jpg|Japanese cover References Category:Compilation album